


Returned

by AngstandPizzaRolls



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Ficlet, Heartwarming reuninon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 16:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4229085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngstandPizzaRolls/pseuds/AngstandPizzaRolls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur walks out of the lake and back into Merlin's arms where he belongs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Returned

This was really the last place Merlin wanted to be stuck at. Anywhere else in the world, he could handle, but no he was stuck on the road across from lake avalon. There had been a huge accident that stopped traffic in all the lanes.  
He’d driven a few of his classmates on the class trip to a nearby museum and they were getting antsy. They joined the growing masses milling around the street while the drivers waited for the wreckage to be cleared away. No one noticed Merlin’s white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, or his clenched jaw and fierce determination not to look anywhere but the dashboard.  
More than a thousand years later and it still hurt to be here. To remember what he’d lost on the shore of this lake. All of the magic in the world couldn’t have saved Arthur, his best friend. The one person…  
He could feel tears welling up in his eyes when Chris poked his head into the passenger window and said, “Come on Merlin. What are you doing sitting around in here? Come hang out with us.”  
Merlin nodded, fighting to gain control of himself. He could stand outside with them, keep his back to that bloody lake and pretend he was somewhere else. Maybe if he pretended to be a normal university student hard enough, it would actually come true. He stood around with his classmates, a few other groups that he knew that had gotten stranded by the wreck and they all chatted about the accident, and the museum and the weather. It was all so unbearably ordinary.  
There were a few reporters with cameras reporting on the accident, interviewing people about what had happened, apparently it was the biggest pile-up the city had seen in a long time.  
Against his better judgement, Merlin looked when someone shouted, “Hey what’s that?” and several heads turned toward the lake.  
There was something rising from water, interrupting the still surface, and it was coming closer to shore. Merlin felt his heart stop as the emerging figure came out of the water. Dripping blond hair, determined blue eyes, that armor he would know anywhere. Could it really be?  
“Arthur!” The shout was ripped from deep in Merlin’s chest, a sound of longing and relief, before he went running toward the figure who had finally stepped out of the water.  
“Arthur!” He shouted again, this time a laugh through the tears that were spilling down his cheeks. He was grinning so hugely it hurt.  
The figure raised his head slowly, and Merlin’s footsteps stuttered at the lack of recognition on those features for a moment. Then his face split into a wide grin and he laughed, “Merlin!” And he started running.  
Colliding at full speed with that armor knocked the breath from Merlin’s lungs but he was too happy to remember to breathe anyway. Arthur was here, solid and dripping wet beneath his hands. He was really back.


End file.
